Thanks to a unique and unprecedented confluence of events — a perfect storm, if you're a football fan — a lot of folks in Annapolis will be focused on touchdowns rather than tinsel during this holiday season.

The gridiron gauntlet kicks off on Saturday at noon, when Navy will host the American Athletic Conference championship game against Temple. This will be the first conference championship game in the program's 137 years. It wasn't until 2015 when independent Navy joined a football conference.

But wait, there's more.

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday of next week, Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium will serve as the site of the Maryland state football championships, with eight teams competing for titles. This is the first year that the state championship games have been held in Annapolis, after being played at the University of Maryland and at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, home of the Ravens.

The Capital's Bill Wagner and Dave Broughton discuss the upcoming Navy game against Temple.

The Capital's Bill Wagner and Dave Broughton discuss the upcoming Navy game against Temple.

Finally, the Military Bowl comes to the city Dec. 27. This is just the fourth year the game has been held in Annapolis. The teams involved in that matchup won't be announced until Sunday afternoon or evening.

What does it all mean? Exposure, for one thing. Annapolis will be getting a great deal of publicity throughout the state and the nation. The two college games will be carried on national television and the six games combined will bring thousands of visitors to Annapolis over the next few weeks.

"I think it's great," said Annapolis Mayor Mike Pantelides, a football fan himself. "Annapolis is already a huge tourist destination. We get four million people coming through here every year already. On the local level, having these teams come play here gives us a chance to highlight Annapolis."

Photos from Navy's 2016 football season.

None of the games will be bigger than Saturday's matchup between Navy and Temple. Given Navy's national ranking — the Mids are 20th in the latest Associated Press college football poll — much more than a conference championship could be at stake.

A victory Saturday, combined with another over Army next week in the annual service academy showdown, could potentially put Navy in a New Year's day bowl for the first time since Roger Staubach quarterbacked the Mids in the early 1960s.

With so much at stake, almost nobody's even thinking about the Army-Navy game, which would normally dominate local football conversation this time of year.

"All of our focus has been on being in this championship game," said Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo. "We've been preparing the whole year for that, and fortunately things are working out."

"We're fired up," said quarterback Will Worth, whose surprising success this season has keyed Navy's rise. "This is exactly where we wanted to be."

The game's a big deal up at Temple, too. As of Wednesday afternoon, the school was on the verge of selling out its allotment of 3,000 tickets and is looking for more, according to athletic department spokesman Richard Burg. That's 11 busloads of students, alumni, boosters and band members making the trip.

But that's just the first wave of football fanatics descending on Annapolis this month.

Beginning Dec. 8, four state championship football games will be played over three days at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Teams and fans from all over the state will come to town for those games — from Cumberland, Frederick County, Havre de Grace and Elkton. Undefeated Fort Hill (13-0), which is in football-crazy Cumberland, expects to bring between 2,500 and 3,000 fans as the Sentinels go for their fourth straight Class 1A title against Havre de Grace on Dec.10 at 3:30 p.m.

"We have a great tradition and a great following," said Amber Walz, the school's athletic director. "We're super-excited to be coming to Annapolis."

In recent years, the state high school title games were played at M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League. However, the Ravens decided to switch their playing surface from synthetic turf to real grass during the offseason. Team officials were concerned about the wear and tear four high school football games might inflict on the field and deal between the state and the team was discontinued.

So, officials from the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association struck a deal this summer to move the games to Annapolis. The high school finals were supposed to be played this weekend, but Navy's appearance in the conference title games pushed everything back a week.

Naval academy athletic officials say the synthetic turf at Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium can withstand whatever punishment the high school teams can dish out – even after Navy and Temple use the field this weekend.

"It'll be a busy December, but it's good to have these events here," said Bill Givens, Navy's associate athletic director in charge of operations and championships.

Givens said he'll have the usual complement of stadium workers for Saturday's game and the Military Bowl – about 400 ticket-takers, concessions people and security staff. And all the field really needs after a big weekend of football is a little grooming

He anticipates everything will be ready for the event that will provide the biggest local economic impact: the Dec. 27 Military Bowl.

The matchup won't be decided until Sunday, when all the postseason bowls are expected to make their announcements about which teams are playing where. The Annapolis game is expected to feature a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference (Maryland's old league) against a team from the American Athletic Conference (Navy's current league). Maryland and Navy both have played in the Military Bowl in recent seasons, but won't be playing in this year's event.

Since the bowl game moved to Annapolis from Washington, D.C., teams like Pittsburgh, Marshall, Cincinnati and Virginia Tech have played in it. The huge wave of out-of-town guests has local tourism and hospitality officials on alert.

"This is an opportunity to generate additional revenue," said Connie Del Signore, the president and CEO of Visit Annapolis & Anne Arundel County, a regional marketing organization. "There's the chance for people to see Annapolis for the first time, and then maybe they come back and visit again."

According to Del Signore, last year's Military Bowl pumped about $17 million into the region's economy, including Washington (where the participating teams stay) and Annapolis.